Surface and tropospheric temperature trends in Armenia

The surface and tropospheric temperature trends have been evaluated over Armenia. A very clear signal of warming is detected at most stations of Armenia for spring, summer and autumn seasons for the period 1979-2012 compared to 1961-1994. Overall, the observed data and the reanalyses products (ERA-40 and ERA-Interim) provide a generally consistent picture for tropospheric temperature trends over Armenia. The trends obtained from the three sources of data show significantly faster warming at the near-surface troposphere (at 850hPa) for the period 1979-2012 compared to 1961-1994. However, temperature trends at 850hPa are underestimated by the reanalysis products relative to the observed data. The warming rates decrease with height, and negative and nearly zero trends are observed in the middle and upper troposphere in most cases.